Deadline day for the Premier League and the Championship passed quietly at Portman Road with no approaches for Andre Dozzell or any of the other promising Blues’ youngsters, however, general manager of football operations Lee O’Neill confirmed there had been interest during the window.

As TWTD revealed last month, Norwich City and a number of other clubs had been showing interest in Dozzell but, speaking this afternoon, O’Neill said there had been no calls about the 20-year in the closing hours of the window: “No, there have been no calls about Andre today.”

Had there been offers for him earlier in the summer, any serious interest? “I think, being honest with you, we’ve got some really good young players and, as I’ve said before, if the phone wasn’t ringing about those young players, I would be a bit worried.

“We’ve had interest from a number of clubs about our young players. Fair dos to [owner] Marcus [Evans], we’ve obviously kept a lot of those players.

“And that’s the plan as we’re trying to help reinvest with the current players that we’ve got and give them the experience of playing 40 or 50 games, which they may not have had in previous seasons, and then we can evaluate whether they’re good enough or not. At the moment they’re all Ipswich Town players and that’s the plan going forward.”

He added: “You read the article from Marcus yesterday, we’ve tried very hard to protect our assets at the football club, that’s the young players, and we’ve got some experienced players.

“We want to try and learn from previous mistakes, build on those things. It’s not going to happen overnight, it’s going to take time.

“Yes, we are looking to strengthen areas of the squad, it may not happen before 5pm today but that doesn’t mean it’s not going to happen before September [2nd, the deadline for League One].

“Once the window closes this evening we’re in a very different position. I think we’re ongoing, nothing’s finalised.

“I think from my point of view, I will be glad when 5pm comes because obviously some of our assets we’ll have made sure they don’t go out of the building, so from that point of view I’ll be really pleased.”

O’Neill says that decisions may now start to be made on sending fringe players out on loan: “That will go on later on when we can work on the injuries coming back and make sure that they can sustain the level that we would like and obviously where we’re at with the squad in general. Then we’ll make decisions on which players may be able to go out on loan.

“Obviously we have looked at, for example, Luke Woolfenden’s situation last season, we had the right balance to be able to do that, so we need to make sure that’s in place.”

Today's deadline also passed with QPR not having made a renewed move for midfielder Alan Judge.

Photo: TWTD

Bluefish11 added 17:42 - Aug 8 So much for bringing in 2-3 Mr Evans!
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jas0999 added 17:46 - Aug 8 Good. Now let's get those permanent additions in. No loans.
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Spanishblueblood added 17:47 - Aug 8 Bluefish......Christ, at least wait until the end of the transfer window before moaning!
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Gcon added 17:54 - Aug 8 Presumably our 2-3 new players are therefore now loans or from League 1 and below. Or do prem & championships potentially choose now to release players from their contract?
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lonelyblue added 17:56 - Aug 8 Spanish, he's not read the article properly and doesn't realise there's a league 1 deadline in September. Don't let the facts get in the way of a good old moan. It's what TWTD is all about 🙄😁
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chorltonskylineblue added 17:57 - Aug 8 Bluefish11 - the window has only closed for PL and Championship clubs. If we've got targets with clubs in those leagues then we can still buy/loan them. In a way, transfers more likely after window has shut as they know who they have got in through the door now.
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ajs83 added 17:59 - Aug 8 Does help if you read the article first, we still have until 2nd September to bring in players. We have brought in one player today: https://www.itfcwomen.co.uk/home/keats-confirmed
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herfie added 18:21 - Aug 8 Key point is that we should recruit individuals who want to play for ITFC. But just looking through the list of either perm or loan deals involving players who have been here in the recent past, probably confirms that our League 1 status is a disincentive to Prem or Cship players when given transfer/loan options. Understandable perhaps. Slight concern is that with the better potential and available targets having elected to go elsewhere, what options remain in the pond to be hooked prior to 2 Sep deadline?

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PositivelyPortman added 18:46 - Aug 8 Bluefish - read the article before commenting.
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Dissboyitfc added 18:55 - Aug 8 relieved to say the least!
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dirtydingusmagee added 19:43 - Aug 8 happy that Dozzel is not going to be leaving, but he still has a lot to prove IMO, he certainly has shown he has potential , but he has to do more, he has to work his way up ,Jason earned it ,Andre must do the same.
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Northstandveteran added 19:46 - Aug 8 Regarding the headline, I'm now wearing my ' not in the least surprised look '
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TimmyH added 21:16 - Aug 8 Going by last season it doesn't really surprise me...
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Michael101 added 23:30 - Aug 8 Never mind it will soon be January,then we can watch players going out and nobody coming in.same sh?t differnt day. Deep joy.
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Jollyblue added 00:29 - Aug 9 Which of our talented youngsters shall we replace with new signings?
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londontractorboy57 added 09:50 - Aug 9 Ah well yet another period of time angst and anger past and Andre is still a ITFC player surprise surprise.
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